The deportation from the Autonomous Republic of the Volga-Germans (September
1941)

Following the decree of August 28, 1941, the total deportation of Germans
from the Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans was basically carried through
during the first half of September 1941.

Parts of the exile transports that had been unloaded in our region, were
first driven to Kazakhstan, but apparently they were rejected and sent back to
Siberia.

The exiled Germans who got to our region from the Autonomous Republic of the
Volga-Germans, came from the left banks of the river (called "steppe
side"), as well as from the right banks (the "mountain side").

From Engels, the administrative center of the Autonomous Republic of the
Volga-Germans , they deported people to the districts north and south of
Achinsk, but also to the foothills regions south of Kansk (partly to the Sayan
district).

From the canton of Ternovka, situated in the suburbs of Engels, people were
deported to regions north of Achinsk, to the Birilyussy district. From
Marxstadt, on the left banks of the river, they also carried out deportations to
Kansk and from there to the district of Irbey. From the canton of Unterwalden in
the north, on the left banks of the river, the deportees happened to get to
North-Khakassia, to districts on the Yenissey south of Krasnoyarsk, to the
destricts east of these, as well as to the districts north, east and south of
Kansk.

The deportations from the southern cantons of Kukkus and Seelman on the left
banks of the river went as follows: from the canton of Kukkus to the southern
foothill districts (Karatuzskoe, Yermakovo), from Seelman mainly to the
districts south and east of Krasnoyarsk.

From the eastern steppe canton Krassny Kut they drove the deportees to the
north of Kansk, from the south-eastern canton of Pallasovka mainly to the
district of Sukhobuzimskoe, and from the adjacent canton of Gmelinka to regions
up the Yenissey, as well as downstream to the district of Yartsevo.

From the mountainous banks of the river, from the cantons of Balzer and
Kamenka, deported Volga-Germans were taken to our region. From the village of
Doenhoff in the canton of Balzer they were deported to Central-Khakassia and the
district of Rybnoye, and from the adjacent village of Kutter to the Daurian
district (south of Krasnoyarsk). From the canton of Kamenka the deportees were
taken to the eastern part of the Nizhneingash district, as well as to the
southern district of Kuragino and the foothill district of Sovietskoye (today
Beryosovka district) east of Krasnoyarsk.

Most of the exiled Volga-Germans were sent to kolkhozes. However, in the
autumn of 1941 they already here and there, and as of January 1942 on the whole,
started to force all men, except old people and invalids into the
"Trud-Army" (labor army) - primarily for lumbering, to the zones of
the Kraslag, Viatlag and Usol'lag but also to the Kuzbas mines (Kuznets
hard-coal basin). In the summer of 1942 they forced women, except those who had
many children, and juveniles to the north for "fishing" to Igarka, to
settlements in the Turukhansk district, to Evenkia, to Taymyr and also to
settlements along the Angara River. In 1943 they also sent juveniles into the
"Trud-Army", but they happened to get to the oil and natural gas
hauling plants in the South-Ural.

The Volga-Germans (who had survived there) were released from the
"Trud-Army" camp zones in 1946. The "release" was such that
they were sent into internal exile to just those places (in various cases to
other places, as well).

At that time, in the years 1946-1947, they used to issue "personal exile
files" on all adult Volga-German deportees.

Just during these years they proceeded with the release of exiled farmers in
our region (s. sections 4.2, 4.5). Those exiles, who were ethnic Germans, were
categorized as "released" on the one hand. On the other hand they were
immediately put under "special registration"

(having to appear for registration and periodic checks). They also issued
"personal files" on them, just as they had done on those deported from
the Autonomous Republic of the Volga-Germans in 1941.

The exiles from the Autonomous Republic of the Volga-Germans (as well as all
other exiles reckoned among Germans) were released from exile in February-March
1956 but "without any right to return" home. The problem of
re-establishing the territorial autonomy of the Volga-Germans has remained
unsolved till the present, although it contradicts the law of restoration of the
rights of persecuted and repressed persons. There is an opinion that unless all
legitimate rights of the genocide victims (and all the more - those determined
by law) have been restored, the rejection of their restoration is to be
considered as continuation of the genocide itself.